LWVOK Advocacy and Issues

The League's Role in Public Policy

The League of Women Voters takes action on an issue or advocates for a cause when there is an existing League position that supports the issue or speaks to the cause.

Positions result from a process of study. Any given study, whether it be National, State, or Local, is thorough in its pursuit of facts and details. As the study progresses, a continuing discussion of pros and cons of each situation occurs. Prior to the results of the study being presented to the general membership, study committee members fashion consensus questions that are then addressed by the membership.

Additional discussion, pro and con, takes place as members (not part of the study committee) learn the scope of the study. After the members reach consensus, the board forms positions based on that consensus.

It is the consensus statement -- the statement resulting from the consensus questions -- that becomes a position. Firm action or advocacy can then be taken on the particular issue addressed by the position. Without a position, action/advocacy cannot be taken.

League Statements on Positions

A summary of the Oklahoma Program for Action includes statements of positions taken by the League of Women Voters of Oklahoma through June 2015. A longer version of the League's Program for Action is under revision, and will be posted when editing is completed.

Impact on Issues, published by the League of Women Voters of the United States, includes the official statements of position for each program area, briefly traces significant past actions and achievements, and indicates links among positions. The LWVUS public policy positions reflect the 2014 - 2016 program adopted by the 2014 convention of the League of Women Voters of the United States; the "positions in brief" listed there summarize the official statements of position included in this guide.